Collecting water with the Naglene flask and filter prior to using the Steripen (Expand pics)

Steripen

Kernowclimber and I use a Steripen Adventurer. I usually use this in conjunction with a 1 litre Naglene wide mouth plastic water flask and a Steripen filter. The filter attaches to the top of the Naglene and strains out any sediment or vegetation when the bottle is immersed in a lake or stream. Having collected the water it is just a matter of unscrewing the filter, switching on the Steripen, inserting the Steripen in to the flask and stirring for 1 minute. The advantage of the Steripen over tablets is that the water is drinkable immediately (rather than waiting 30 minutes for tablets to work) and is also not tinged by the taste from tablets. When not in use I store the Steripen inside the Naglene flask. Some concerns might be possible failure of the unit or batteries (in which case I carry a few chlorine tablets as backup). The Steripen can also be used in any water bottle with a wide enough opening but not directly with water bladders (hence my use of the Naglene flask to collect and sterilise the water before pouring the clean water in to our water bladders). Water pump filters can also produce 'instant' results but these too are prone to failures and breakages. Water pumps are generally heavier (450gm vs 300gm for my Steripen and Naglene combined) but can often pump directly into water bladders removing the need to carry the Naglene flask. The MSR Hyperflow pump is however lighter (200gm).

The Steripen model I use (Adventurer) is a few years old and I had a problem with it switching on about a year ago. Steripen in the USA replaced this free of charge but recently the replacement has developed a problem as well. It will only switch on if the button is pressed twice (for sterilising half a litre over 30 seconds) hence I have to repeat the operation for 1 litre of water. I think that newer models are more reliable and also have better indication of when the sterilisation is complete.

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